Anno's Alphabet by Mitsumasa Anno

Look at the cover - see how the '?' is made from wood. Under the dust jacket there is a close image of the wood and then the first page has a huge tree. 

Image under the front dust jacket. 

Turn the page and an axe has cut down the tree. Then we see a mechanical device cutting the wood into the shape of a book. You can see the title page below with an open book (made from that same piece of wood). 

As you would expect Anno adds so much to his alphabet book and it is far from simple. Perhaps you have seen his visual tricks in books like Topsy Turvies; Anno's Mysterious Multiplying Jar; and Anno's Upside Downers. The sophistication of those images and the ones in this book make me suggest this alphabet book will probably appeal more to adults or art students.

Now for something surprising. I was quite shocked by the G page. G is for gun and I expected to read some criticism of this, but I didn't find any. It is a pop gun with a cork but the gun does look quite scary to my eye. 

 

Images from Impossible World

I did enjoy the pages with L is for lock; M is for mirror and map; O is for orange oil paint; R is for rocking horse and T is for typewriter. I wonder if Mitsumasa Anno ever actually saw a real Kangaroo. Oh and as with all Alphabet books it is fun to see how they interpret X and Z. 

Handsomely designed and produced, with graceful leafy borders, carefully rendered pictures and, facing them, woodgrain upper case letters that seem to have been lovingly hand carved, this looks like the beautiful sort of book that wins prizes for graphic excellence. And so it is. But you can't expect the creator of Topsy-Turvies (KR, 1970) and Upside-Downers (KR, 1971) to let it go at that, and if you take another look you'll notice the peculiarity of the letters, which resemble, variously, Escher's impossible fork, a partial Mobius strip, and other inconceivable three-dimensional illusions. Kirkus Star review

There's a small street library near my home and I regularly walk past and look inside. I was very surprised to see Anno's Alphabet yesterday. This book was published in 1974 and the copy I found was a 1980 reprint. Amazingly it is in good condition with a dust jacket.

Here is a list of the words used for A to Z:

Mitsumasa Anno (1926 – 2020) was a Japanese illustrator and writer of children's books, known best for picture books with few or no words. He received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1984. Anno's Alphabet was an ALA Notable Children's Book and received the 1975 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award.

Two years ago Dr Robin Morrow and I explored Alphabet Books as a project for our IBBY Australia members so I am always on the hunt for more examples. You can see our video (13 minutes) here. We were just learning how to make these videos - sorry the name label on the narrator is incorrect. Our latest video for IBBY Australia members explores the topic "One poem in a Picture Book".  I was excited to see Anno's Alphabet was originally purchased from The Children's Bookshop in Beecroft - the shop originally owned by Dr Robin Morrow. It cost AUS$14.95.